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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300068">In the dark</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/iron_lace/pseuds/iron_lace'>iron_lace</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Following’s not really my style [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Post-Iron Man 1, SHIELD, SHIELD is shady as fuck, Tony is tired, and now this, but has to deal with shit anyway, not SHIELD friendly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:15:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300068</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/iron_lace/pseuds/iron_lace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony looked up ahead and saw a dark shadow standing behind the couch in front of the window. Just a bit to the right from where he had nearly been killed by his own godfather not 24 hours before, very nice.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Following’s not really my style [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070561</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>557</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the dark</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a little prequel to 'Wrong Move' and explores the Iron Man 1 post-credit scene. Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you can enjoy the holidays and spend it with your loved ones.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony was tired after the press conference and just wanted to get home and sleep for once. He was sore all over after nearly dying of heart failure and the fight the day before. He felt so fucking …used and <em>betrayed</em>. His own godfather had not only ordered a hit on him, which had led to three months of captivity and torture, but had also tried to kill him with his own hands. Twice.</p><p><br/>
The ten minutes after Obie had left had felt like an eternity. Laying on the couch and waiting for the paralysis to finally lift enough so he could <em>try</em> to get to the spare arc reactor in his lab, downstairs… Gasping for every shallow breath and the ever increasing <em>burn</em> in his chest. Not knowing what had happened to Pepper either, if Obie had already gotten to her, if he had hurt her, killed her! He shivered thinking about it, that had been too close, much too close. If he had been but a second slower, he didn’t want to imagine it. Pepper… if she hadn’t gifted him the old reactor, but thrown it out like he had told her to, if she hadn’t been there to blow the arc reactor… He would be dead by now. Pepper had saved his life yesterday. Twice.</p><p><br/>
“Boss, are you alright?” Happy turned around to him.</p><p><br/>
“What?” Tony blinked at him and looked around. They had arrived in his drive way without him even noticing. He dropped his right hand, only now realizing that his fingers unconsciously stroked over the arc reactor under his shirt.</p><p><br/>
“I said, are you alright? You’ve just been staring at nothing there for a minute.”</p><p><br/>
Tony shook his head slightly and gave Happy a wan smile. “It’s just a lot to process. And it’s been a fucking long day on top of it. Thanks for getting me home, Happy.” He undid his seatbelt and opened the door of the Audi. “See you tomorrow, 9am sharp?”</p><p><br/>
“Yeah Boss, I’ll be there and pick you up. Have a good night,” Happy nodded at him and started the motor again.</p><p><br/>
For a moment Tony watched the car get smaller in the distance and then turned around and opened the front door to his house. He stepped into the dark foyer and closed the door behind himself.</p><p><br/>
Three steps inside and he stopped when the lights didn’t turn on as they were supposed to. “Jarvis?”</p><p><br/>
“Welcome home, Sir” Jarvis’s voice warbled and then went silent, putting Tony instantly on alert. At the same time he looked up ahead and saw a dark shadow standing behind the couch in front of the window. Just a bit to the right from where Tony had been gasping for every breath not 24 hours before, very nice. The lamp to the side was turned on and allowed him to see just enough to recognize a human silhouette, but not clear enough to see who it was. Who the fuck was this? Someone working for Obie, no, Stane, trying to kill him again? Terror swept through him, his heart started beating faster and faster and all he could think about was that he was a sitting duck in the middle of the foyer, unarmed. Cold sweat broke out all over his body and he couldn’t help but curse himself that he hadn’t had time yet to check Jarvis’s code after Stane’s attack yesterday. That meant his security system was most likely completely down and he could only pray that the man wouldn’t pull a gun on him. Or that there weren’t more people lurking in the dark to surprise him.</p><p> </p><p>Still facing the windows the man drawled, “‘I am Iron Man.’ You think you're the only superhero in the world?” Finally he turned around and added, “Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.”</p><p><br/>
Tony was trying to slow his racing heart, that didn’t <em>sound</em> like a you-are-about-to-murdered-speech? His thoughts all jumbled together and he was just a bit too exhausted, sore, terrified and confused by that nonsense speech, that he had no idea what to think about this.</p><p><br/>
“Who the hell are you?” That was the more pressing question, and why the fuck was that guy even here? In his own <em>high-security</em> house!?</p><p><br/>
“Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD.” The guy offered, stepping into the lamp’s light for full dramatic effect, complete with a black leather duster and an eyepatch.</p><p><br/>
SHIELD? Wasn’t that Colman? Coulman? Coulson part of SHIELD? So this Fury was Coulson’s boss? “Ah,” was about all he managed to say to that, too surprised by what the director of an intelligence agency could possibly have to say to him in a sneak attack in the dark <em>in his own house</em>.</p><p><br/>
“I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.” Fury announced, like that should have meant something to him.</p><p> </p><p>“The what Initiative? No, you know, I don’t give a fuck right now. What the <em>hell</em> are you doing here!” Now that he was somewhat sure that he wouldn’t be shot in the back any second now, Tony started to get angry. “If you want to talk to me, make a fucking appointment! Are you <em>insane</em>, breaking into my house and lying in wait for me to come home?”</p><p> </p><p>Fury didn’t even have the decency to look at all deterred, instead he shot him a reprimanding look. “Stark, this is important, so quit your tantrum.”</p><p> </p><p>Tantrum? Who were these <em>people</em>? Coulson’s ‘Just read the cards. Word for word.’ as if he was brain-damaged and now this whole thing? Ok, he was done. <em>Enough</em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Fury, get your ass out of my house, <em>right now</em> or I will call the police.” Tony glared at the spy and fished his phone out of his pocket without taking his eyes off him.</p><p><br/>
Fury scoffed. “You don’t think that will work, do you? Signal jammer.”</p><p><br/>
Tony grit his teeth and stated once more, enunciating clearly. “You and whoever else is with you will leave my house and grounds NOW or I promise you the first thing I will do tomorrow is call my lawyers. Whether you like it or not, trespassing is in fact illegal. You want to talk, you pick up a phone and make a fucking appointment!”</p><p><br/>
Fury didn’t look happy at all, but he seemed to get a clue at last. “Give me a call Stark, my card’s on the table,” he ordered and walked past him.</p><p><br/>
“<em>You</em> want an appointment, so go fucking make it <em>yourself</em>, asshole! And don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.” God this man infuriated him, unbelievable…</p><p><br/>
Finally, <em>finally</em> the door closed behind Fury and Tony released a breath and felt his shoulders relax slightly. Jarvis, he had to fix Jarvis. And search through his house, he didn’t want any other surprises tonight and wouldn’t put it past the bastard. He took two quick steps to the nearest wall-safe and pressed his right thumb into the little hidden hollow. The latch clicked open softly and he took out a Stark handgun 38mm, quickly checked the magazine and reloaded it. Holding the gun steady he made his way slowly downstairs to the server room, checking his surroundings. Just as he hit the last step, the lights suddenly turned on, momentarily blinding him.</p><p><br/>
Jarvis’s alarmed voice came next.“Sir? Are you alright? I am sorry Sir, I believe I was compromised. My last timestamp is 8 minutes and 17 seconds ago-“</p><p><br/>
“Jarvis check the whole house and perimeter for intruders, bugs, anything. I just had an unexpected, uninvited guest.” Tony interrupted him.</p><p><br/>
Jarvis was silent for two seconds and then gave the all clear. Tony dropped the weapon and took a deep breath for what felt like the first time in an hour. “Thanks, Jarvis. The director of SHIELD thought it was a fun idea to hack you and lurk around in my dark living room to wait for me.”</p><p><br/>
While he brought Jarvis up to speed he went to the terminal and started checking for any backdoor or virus SHIELD may have used. Once he was done fixing what he could for now, he headed up to his bedroom. He was dead tired now, he hadn’t even been up for 16 hours yet, but he felt like he did after a three day engineering binge. The next few weeks were going to be difficult as well. The FBI would launch a full investigation into SI, for sure. Even if Obie … Stane was dead, there were still accomplices and plenty of people who were either blind or had looked the other way. No way was he able to deal under the table for years (decades?) without anyone noticing a damn thing. Just thinking about sorting out this gigantic mess and what it would mean for the stocks and image of SI gave him a headache on top of his exhaustion.</p><p><br/>
“Sir, do you want me to call someone to report this?” Jarvis asked quietly, while Tony undressed for bed.</p><p><br/>
Tony sighed and answered as he climbed into bed. “On the one hand, I want to nail his ass for that, on the other hand … his agent protected Pepper and probably saved her life yesterday. If I don’t change my opinion tomorrow, I guess however much I hate what he just pulled, he gets a pass on it. One get out of jail free card.”</p><p><br/>
Jarvis didn’t sound very happy about it, but acquiesced. “I do not think he truly deserves that. But as you wish, Sir.”</p><p><br/>
Tony huffed a small laugh and snuggled down in bed.</p><p><br/>
“Sleep well, Sir.” Jarvis would watch over him and he could finally sleep in peace. Tony pulled the blanket up to his nose and was out like a light in seconds.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>##########################################</p><p> </p><p>In the end it was Maria Hill who made the appointment. A month after Fury’s little break-in, Tony met with him and listened to his idea of joining a superhero team. He turned Fury down, because contrary to popular belief he hadn’t become Iron Man to 'be a hero' or deal with every villain in the world (they had police, military and special forces for that!), but to rectify his personal mistakes. Having some back-up wasn’t totally dumb though, it had given him the idea to see about maybe getting Rhodey into a suit of his own.</p><p><br/>
Besides, his gut told him that there was something… off about SHIELD.</p><p> </p>
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